Share Your Experience with Zoloft Withdrawals

zoloft prescribed for depression by psychiatrist for last two years - max dosage was 250mg a month ago. primary dr told me trying to lose weight on this dosage was like hitting head against wall plus weight gain makes me depressed! a no-brainer.
weanned off a dr's suggested rate.
no vertigo, zaps until coming off entirely 6 days ago.
now just toughing it out
sometimes the vertigo makes it hard to drive
see movements out of the corner of my eye that are not there
zaps in the back of my head intermittently
seems to be worse as the day progresses
anyway this is the second time on 10 years i have been on/off zoloft so i did not freak out as much this time as i expected these side effects
as an experienced zoloft weaner i can say - be patient - took about two weeks to subside mostly and then another two wweks to disappear completely
can't seem to find anything that helps - take motrin as a help

such a relief to read such stories....even though they are definitely not happy ones. i have been on 50 mg of zoloft for 7-8 months now and about 3 days ago i had to stop taking them because i had no receipt and no medicines. so i thought it would be a good idea to stop taking them at all, smth that was crossing my mind for a while. i had no idea it would be like this......i feel very irritable, on the verge of agressiveness, i feel nausea most of the day. yesterday i went on a walk and i couldn´t stop crying, even though i had absolutely no idea why i did that. i started thinking about the uselessness of living, about the pain i feel looking at people and knowing they would all eventually end up suffering and dying. i couldn´t concentrate on any conversation, i felt like a cloud had suddenly fallen upon me and reality seemed like a russian movie, sad, frightening, yet lucid. maybe it all sounds like crap to you, but i really feel disoriented right now. i have never written on a forum before, but right now i feel nobody could understand me better than you guys, who have been through this before. the nausea is worst, then comes dizziness and this irritability/sadness thing, then dizziness again, then all this crying, the weird feeling behind my eyes and in my head which i cannot even accurately describe...
what seems weird to me is that i quit on zoloft just like this 2 years ago, and the only symptom i can remember from back then is the restlessness i had for one day, when i felt like i was being followed on the streets, even though in the back of my head i knew it could not be true and it was just some sort of anxiety or paranoia caused by the lack of medicine.
but this time it seems much harder....i had 3 hard days and i expect nothing better for the next. what is worse is that i did take this medicine because i had medium to severe depression last fall, and even though i did all sorts of exercises to relieve the symptoms ( i have a therapist friend), i couldn´t handle the physical symptoms. i mean i could manage my sadness and suicidal thoughts, my lack of energy and pleasure, but i could not handle the physical symptoms: lots of nausea, dizziness, i started to sleep 2-3 hours per night and then oversleep on other days whan i simply wasn´t functional at all. zoloft helped me with that, even though my mood improved, but not as much as i had expected.
but now the nausea i have feels like my old depression, i cannot stand it, it makes me feel like on the verge of a panic attack (which i also suffered from years ago).
i probably talk nonsense....i am scared of all these physical symptoms of which i know i have such poor control. it´s sad to have to go through all this again, knowing from my own experience that in a year or so my depression will be so out of control again that i will have to take meds again. a neverending cycle probably....sorry...but it did good to write about it. thanks

First off, thank you to everyone who has posted on this site! I was getting a little concerned that I had a heart condition suddenly crop up on me.

This past weekend, I went on an extended and very arduous bike trip that I was a little undertrained for. Post ride, I had sore legs and a headache -- pretty expected. But the headache lasted another day or two and with it, I noticed my heat rate seems elevated (I can feel my pulse in my neck). Then I began to feel slightly weird / dizzy. It's not that bad but I definitely notice it. I've been researching symptoms of over-exertion and even the flu when I realized I had stopped taking Zoloft on day 2 of the trip. I had been tapering off anyway and hadn't packed enough for the weekend. I was at 25-50mg for the past few weeks (from a high of 150mg) and was planning to go cold turkey soon so when I realized I ran out of pills, I didn't sweat it. I googled Zoloft withdrawl and found this site. What I feel and what you all describe is a close match.

My doctor told me Zoloft had no withdrawl symptoms so it would have never have occurred to me that going off the pills caused this. While I don't wish these affects on anyone (and I seem to be lucky so far in the severity of what I am experiencing) I am glad to know what is going on and that it's not my something worse.

Good luck to everyone here. I will let you know when things change (for better or worse).

-BikeGuy

Wow this is exactly what i needed to read. I am currently on day 4 off zoloft 150mg. I weened from 150 to 100 for a week to 50 for a week to 25 for a week. I honestly feel like im losing my mind. I decided i wanted off when everyone around started seeing changes in my personality. I felt depression free but also lacked every other essential emotion for living a normal happy life. Almost like i was locked inside this zombie like shell of myself. I feel like i have bugs crawling underneath my skin,sweats yet my hands and feet are cold and clamy.Terrible migraines,eyeball discomfort,brain zaps,shakes,stomach pain,tiredness and an extreme disire to just take more to make this tourtue stop.Im currently working but all i can do is sit here 1/2 alive and read what this crap has done to everyone. Withdrawl from zoloft is the worst feeling ive ever experianced. I was a crstal meth addicted a few years back and withdrawl from that was a walk in the park compared this. I just wanna feel normal again. I can feel my "normal" personality returning and my emotions turning back on but its hard to enjoy them with all these withdrawl symptoms. I feel like slapping my dr in the face honestly.

Hi I just stopped taking my zololt and I'm having trouble sleeping(I'm having the most horrible dreams), a few days ago I was so depressed I almost killed myself(if someone hadn't knocked on the door I don't know what I would have done)I'm really dizzy and I wake up with headaches. What did you guys do to get over all this. Should I just go back on?

back again. it´s been a few weeks without my medication now. for a while everything seemed to work for the better. a week or so after i stopped taking the pills i started to go out again, feeling somewhat hopeful about the future. but right now everything seems like a lost cause to me. and probably it´s not the withdrawal now, just plain depression/anxiety again. i can barely walk, i feel dizzy all day long, my biggest wish is to stay in bed and feel nothing at all - i mean, i don´t wanna feel happy, i just wanna be sense-less somehow. in a way i feel i´m missing out on things. i´m 24, just finished my masters degree, and i have absolutely no plan for the future. i feel that after 6 years of recurrent depression and anxiety i can somehow put up with the symptoms, but that is all - no desires, no ardent wishes, no future plan. i cannot even imagine i could enjoy my life, just stick to it. from time to time i wish i wouldn´t be living alone, but to be honest, i know a hug now and then wouldn´t transform my suffering. so during the night i stay in bed, watch cheesy movies and whenever people kiss or hug, i look at them like an alien - no envy at all. i just feel i will never know how it feels to be comforted.
i feel old, rusty. so this is my ......."follow-up report".

As helpful as this thread is I feel like maybe it presents perhaps overly dire prospects, since of course only those with greater withdrawal effects are the ones who are going to be looking these things up. So I want to add some encouragement and say that it's not going to be terrible for everyone. A lot of it depends on the dosage obviously, but I also think that maybe the amount of side effects you had in the beginning might indicate how bad withdrawal effects will be, but I only have my personal experience to back that up. I was on 50 mg for about 3 months and two weeks ago I went down to 25 for a week, then stopped completely. I was feeling pretty much fine except for being slightly dizzy, and to be honest it was not an entirely bad sort of dizziness. I thought I got off easy, although after one week I'm still feeling a little strange, which is why I was here checking out how long these symptoms are supposed to last. I think I am having only mild "zaps" I wasn't sure what everyone meant by that for a while, but recently I've noticed an occasional subtle adrenaline rush even while doing very mundane things, like while checking my e-mail and quickly hitting the back button, I'd get a sudden rush and think wtf?? this is hardly something to get anxious about. I guess it was the sudden eye movement. One of the reasons I've gone off of it is that I've gained a ton of weight because of really extreme and unwarranted bouts of hunger (I know, the opposite of what most people experience). Unfortunately still getting those, but I guess it will be a few weeks before it wears off entirely, and hopefully that will go away as well. Been feeling pretty depressed but since that's why I went on it in the first place it's only to be expected.

Please don't immediately blame your doctors for prescribing meds with some adverse symptoms. I am as suspicious of drug companies as the next person (I've actually done a considerable amount of research into drug advertising for school, I guess to try to talk myself out of going on drugs but I gave in in the end). I agree that messing around with neurotransmitters is almost asking for trouble, but many doctors are (hopefully) basing their opinions on previous experience with patients who have had major improvements with sertraline (and everyone's chemistry is different!). I don't think I regret trying it, if only it didn't make me eat like a horse with the added effect of not caring that I was packing on the pounds, until I realized that none of my clothes fit anymore. ANYWAY...

I wish everyone the best of luck!

Anyone heard of "Deprex" , supposed to help get off Zoloft.
I was put on Zoloft in 1994. Have been on 150mg day for 5years. When I tried to slowly reduce my dosage I encountered emotional problems. Tried this about four times so went back on them for the last four years. Now I am retired and better informed ("You are what you think") I no longer have emotional problems. Started reducing my dosage but replaced it with a Homeopathic medicine DEPREX made by "VAXA" maybe, (Not available in Canada) because it prevents most of the Zoloft's withdrawal symptoms, and itself does not have any. Has anyone else had any experience with DEPREX? Recommended dosage is 2 to 4 capsules twice a day which is a wide gap! So far I only have the Zaps but not too severe. Feedback on dosage would be helpful. Thanks.

I can't believe I actually found this forum. I had no idea what was wrong with me until now! I went on Zoloft 50 mg a little over a year ago for post partum depression. The first day I took it I had horrible dirrhea, but I kept taking it knowing it would make me better. After about a month it did make me better, except for the fact that I didn't care about anything. I was just numb. After about 3 months of taking it I decided to go off of it and I was so sick. I didn't know what was wrong but now I seen that someone described "ZAPS" and it's pretty much just like that. My eyes wouldn't catch up with my head. It was so weird. After I took my Zoloft again it went away and I decided that I could not go off of it. I have gone a few days here and there without it and my husband can always tell because I get sick and super irritated. Even just a few days ago I hadn't had it and I completley blew up at him and went nuts. I know I was prescribed for PPD but I'm pretty sure there has to be something else wrong with me. I know now that I will never be able to go off of Zoloft, because I "need it" even though it makes me feel like I don't care about anything...and plus I don't want to feel those withdrawls again, EXTREME DIZZINESS, VERTIGO, ZAPS, HEADACHE...all not fun

claritydoc wrote:

Anyone heard of "Deprex" , supposed to help get off Zoloft. I was put on Zoloft in 1994. Have been on 150mg day for 5years. When I tried to slowly reduce my dosage I encountered emotional problems. Tried this about four times so went back on them for the last four years. Now I am retired and better informed ("You are what you think") I no longer have emotional problems. Started reducing my dosage but replaced it with a Homeopathic medicine DEPREX made by "VAXA" maybe, (Not available in Canada) because it prevents most of the Zoloft's withdrawal symptoms, and itself does not have any. Has anyone else had any experience with DEPREX? Recommended dosage is 2 to 4 capsules twice a day which is a wide gap! So far I only have the Zaps but not too severe. Feedback on dosage would be helpful. Thanks.

Hi Claritydoc, thanks for the info on Deprex. I am going to my local natural food co-op to see if they carry Deprex in their homeopathic remedy section. I have been on a 50mg stretch of zoloft for 9 mos. now, prescribed by a genl practitioner to counter a recent bout of the blues (I have been on zoloft 150mg for 2 years, and paxil for 6 mos. awhile back).

DUring this 9-month stretch I have tried to quit a month ago by cutting the 50mg pill in half, taking 25 mg for a week, then cutting that in half the week after. I experienced such horrible muscle and joint pain in week two that I got so scared I took the 50mgs and then the joint pain stopped within 4 hours! It is such an addiction type feeling, I can imagine the withdrawal is similar to a heroin addicts craving. I wanted to stop taking zoloft because it had done its job, and I felt fine and was ready to start working out and lose the weight I had gained (15 lbs in 9 mos). I am 41, and healthy, I used to be a runner and rock climber until the depression hit me back in 2004 (my parents passed away).

SInce I recently obtained better health insurance I made an appointment with a psychiatrist to talk about getting a month's prescription so that I can wean off zoloft over a month or longer, thinking that maybe I need to lower dosages over a 2 week period. Instead, after talking to me about the symptoms I had while on zoloft (ie., the lack of sex drive, the weight gain), the doctor sent me out the door suggested I switch to lexapro because he determined I had "generalized anxiety issues" that still needed to address, and gave me 2 week sample worth of lexapro!!! I am furious, and really this experience demonstrates how these shrinks are glorified drug pushers. I am more adamant now about quitting zoloft but I have 5 days left of zoloft. I will probably be in pain soon but hey, now that I have health insurance, I may just go to the emergency room if it gets bad. I hate thinking about this knowing that I will be sick but I dont want to be on SSRIs anymore. I am NOT depressed! Why do doctors harm rather than help???!!!